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9 August 2013

From The Heart Of The World - Alan Ereira

Another documentary, along with
John Romer’s Testament and the Blair
Brothers’ Ring of Fire, which had an
early influence on my chosen path of study was Alan Ereira’sFrom the Heart of the World (1990). This
film combines my two main interests, archaeology and anthropology, two subjects
which I would go on to study at university.

The film begins with an account of
the Tairona, a group of Pre-Columbian cultures which formed a sophisticated civilisation
that flourished in South America in the centuries preceding the Spanish
Conquest in the 1500s. The remains of their ancient citadels can be found in
the mountainous jungle region of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta on the
northern coast of Colombia, the world’s highest coastal mountain range.

Like
most of the Pre-Columbian peoples of South America they were decimated by the
Spanish Conquistadors who plundered their cities primarily for gold, and then
subsequently exploited them and their lands, marginalising and oppressing their
native culture. The film outlines this history whilst illustrating the remains
of their roads and cities, which were finely attuned to their environment and
constructed in such a way that meant they were not washed away by the frequent
rains but instead channelled and made use of the water. The film lets the
archaeologists and looters, who have each worked the sites to their own ends,
speak of the remarkable things they have found, before finally introducing the
Kogi people. The Kogi are the modern day descendents of the Tairona culture, an
indigenous group who still live much as their ancestors may have lived, in
isolation from the rest of Colombia and the wider world.

The overall premise of the film was
a truly prescient one. First screened on BBC television in 1990 it was a
bombshell. I remember at the time it was widely talked about. The Kogi, we were
told in the opening narration, had asked Alan Ereira to come to the Sierra
Nevada de Santa Marta to make this film because they had a message to give to
the world. The message was one which spoke of the harm which we, in the modern
world, were doing to the environment. They were concerned that mankind’s
actions – in mining, logging, extracting minerals and oil, intensive farming
techniques, industrial air and water pollution, etc – were damaging the Earth.
If we didn’t stop, they warned, we would destroy the world. This remarkable
message came right at the beginnings of the debate concerning man-made climate
change. Their message was clearly an early warning about global warming.

The Kogi are a people who still
live very close to nature, a sedentary subsistence farming culture, their lives
and their social structures are bound to their mountain environment and the
ecosystems which make up the Sierra. They had noticed how the natural water
cycle of their mountain was changing. The top of the range was drying out and
the snows were retreating, meaning the annual melt-waters were diminishing, and
this in turn was having a detrimental knock-on effect down the mountain side, through
the different climate zones which they so adeptly utilise, right down to the
sea itself. The Kogi’s society is seemingly centred upon maintaining an actual
as well as a spiritual balance with nature, but not just in their own world.
They see themselves as the Elder Brothers of the human race. They are attuned
to the elemental force within nature, and they believe that it is their duty to
maintain that balance and harmony for the good of the Earth and all mankind.
But, we – the Younger Brother – are threatening this stability by our ignorance
and through our insatiable greed. At the time, many agreed that this was an
unprecedented clarion call which we would do well to heed.

The film itself appealed to me on
several different levels. I was first drawn to it because, at the time, I was
very interested in Pre-Columbian civilisations. I was especially interested in
the Incas and the Maya, and this was the first I’d heard about the Tairona, who
like many Pre-Columbian cultures were excellent goldsmiths. I’ve since seen beautiful
examples of their exquisite ancient gold work in museums in London and Madrid.
But the film also showed me the contemporary relevance of these past cultures
in a way which was quite unexpected. I was slowly becoming very interested in
the different ways humans have organised themselves into communities, the
different social norms and customs upon which we have structured our societies
and how these systems have changed and adapted over time. I wondered if
anthropology could offer us a window onto past cultures such as the Tairona? (I
later discovered that this has been one of the most hotly debated tenets of
archaeology and anthropology!)

In essence, the film prompted me to think more
broadly. I didn’t realise at the time, but it suggested a multi-disciplinary
approach to the contemplation of history and culture. It also appealed to me on
an ethical level too, with its highly contemporary view towards environmental
conservation issues and the need to preserve natural spaces in which
traditional societies could be allowed to continue to exist as they chose,
rather than encroaching upon them, marginalising, or, at worst, forcing them to
abandon their lands and livelihoods at the behest of over-reaching big business
interests and advancing globalisation. This film, and Alan Ereira’s book, ‘The Heart of the World’ (1990), helped
me to see how all my various interests could essentially come together as one
interrelated and integrated whole.

I later met Alan Ereira. Around ten
years ago, I assisted him when he was filming ancient Greek vases for one of
his documentaries. Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t feel it was appropriate
for me to broach him about his work with the Kogi, although there were
countless questions I would have loved to have asked him at the time. I regret now
that I didn’t.

I recently read that he has since
made a second film about the Kogi which was officially released last year,
called ‘Aluna’(2012). ‘Aluna’ is the
Kogi’s name for the spiritual world which they believe binds reality and all
living things to ‘the Great Mother,’ that elemental force within nature which
is essentially the Earth itself. You can find out more about the new film here,
and view extracts from both the original and the new films here. The Tairona Heritage Trust website contains more information on the Tairona and the Kogi, as
well as providing references for further reading. The two films will both be
screened later this year at the Orkney International Science Festival
(September 5th, 2013), find out more here.

I’d
like to express my thanks to the photographer, Simon Chaput, who has very
kindly and very generously given me permission to illustrate this piece with
his own images of the Kogi. His are by far the best images of the Kogi which I
have seen. You can find out more about Simon Chaput and his remarkable work on his blog.